Let's Thaw Out Together
by kanyon01
Summary: Ash and Gary get stranded on a freezing mountain together. They must depend on each other to survive, despite their rivalry. Loosely based on the episode "Snow Way Out." Palletshipping one-shot. Don't read if you don't like. Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or any of it's characters.


Ash, Misty, Gary, and Brock were walking the pavement when they came across a fork in the road.

"Which way should we go?" Misty wondered aloud. Ash seemed to ponder this for a moment.

"That way!" He yelled. Gary rolled his eyes.

"You're going to get us lost, we should go the other way." He said.

"How would you know which way to go?" Ash retorted, headstrong. The chestnut haired teen sighed dramatically.

"I did have a map, but you made me lose it." He said, glaring accusingly at the dark haired teen. Ash scoffed. He began to march ahead of the group, and soon enough Gary gave in and followed.

*An hour later*

"You idiot! I told you we shouldn't have gone this way!" Gary yelled. He was so pissed right now. The four of them were out in the snowy cold, all because Ash had chosen to go this way. The chestnut haired teen didn't even want to be seen with this idiotic group, but his grandfather had made him hang with them. Said he'd needed to bond with "people his own age." Whatever.

"S-Shut up." Ash retorted, shivering from the cold.

"We don't even know where were going!" Gary continued, looking at the tall snow-covered mountains ahead of them. Ash thought for a moment. After he seemed to get an idea, his face lit up. He reached for his belt and pulled out a Pokeball.

"Pidgeotte, go!" He yelled, and threw the red and white ball into the air. The brown and pink bird popped out.

"Pidgeotto!" It cried.

"Fly over there and tell us which path leads out!" Ash commanded. He looked so proud of his idea. The group waited patiently (all except for Gary of course). In a matter of seconds, the bird Pokémon had flown back. It gestured with its wings to the north. The group nodded and Ash called Pidgeotto back to it's Pokeball.

"See! Now we know where were going!" Ash said in triumph. Gary growled irritatingly. He lead the way, following the Pokémon's instructions. He didn't really want to talk to Ash, Misty, or Brock. He wasn't friends with them, nor did he want them to think he was. Somewhere along the way, he turned around to check on them. The only person he saw was Ash, trailing slowly behind him and looking at the ground.

"Where are your stupid friends?" Gary yelled over the harsh icy wind. Ash was shivering and had his arms wrapped around himself. He didn't hear Gary. So the chestnut haired teen stopped.

"Where are your friends?" He yelled again. The black haired teen finally heard the other and jumped slightly. He glanced around him and saw nobody.

"Oh crap." He muttered, suddenly not so confident. He looked back over at Gary, hesitant. It finally sunk in what that meant. The two rivals had been left completely alone. Ash looked really frightened, to be quite honest. Gary had never seen his rival look so downright freaked out.

"Just come on, we have to find shelter. It's too cold." Gary commanded, then once again led the way. Ash didn't want to follow the chestnut haired teen, but he did for awhile. However, his fingers and face were numb, and he was shivering like mad. He was tired and hungry, and so was his Pikachu. He glanced at the back of Gary's head and decided the other teen was fine on his own. Ash made a quick detour to a path that wound around the snow covered mountain. He walked on it just fine for about a half a mile.

Though, as he kept walking, he just kept getting more tired. He didn't hear the rumbling noises below him, and that's when the ledge gave out. Ash slid down the side of the mountain, frantically searching for something, anything to hold on to. He could feel Pikachu's little claws digging into his neck, holding on for dear life. Finally, there was a grip. Ash took advantage of it. He was literally hanging from the edge of a mountain.

"Shit." He muttered. He hadn't even realized it, but as he fell, he'd yelped, loud and clear. Ash tried to climb back up the mountain, but he couldn't find another place to hold that wouldn't break. He gave in and let the tears fall.

"Shit shit shit shit." He muttered, realizing for the first time that he might die right there. This was by far one of the most humiliating ways to die. He tried to think of ways for his Pokémon to help him, but he was too heavy for Pidgeotto to carry him. Bulbasaur would have already had to be at the top of the mountain to pull him up, and he couldn't risk dropping his Pokeball. Ash's fingers felt like they were going to snap off, and the cold only added to the feeling.

"Pikachu, I'm so sorry." He muttered, letting more tears fall. He was slipping, slowly but surely. He couldn't hold on much longer. That's when he heard a voice.

"Ash!" It called, over and over. The black haired teen tried to look up, but he feared that if he moved his head at all, he'd fall much faster. Next thing he knew, a rope was being thrown down right next to him. He didn't hesitate. Grabbing the rope, he wrapped it tightly around his waist. As a last thought, the teen wiped his tears away. Then he was being pulled up. In a matter of moments he was at the top of the mountain. Before he could see who it was that had saved him, he was forced into a hug.

"Fucker." He heard the person mutter. That's when he realized it was Gary who had saved him. Ash was stunned as could be. He didn't think his rival cared about him at all, and here he was, being rescued.

"Um." Ash whispered, still very confused. Gary pulled away as he realized what he was going. The black haired teen looked at him expectantly.

"What? I don't want to be responsible for your death." Gary said. He awkwardly looked away. Ash hesitated for a moment, watching the other teen carefully.

"Thanks." He finally said.

"Yeah whatever, don't get all mushy on me." The other retorted, hiding his upset expression. Ash gave Gary a moment to figure things out. He took the time to examine his body for any injuries. His hands were bleeding like mad from being cut up on the rocks, and he was sure he felt a big bruise on his forehead from falling, but that was about it. In a lot of ways, he was lucky as hell.

"Alright, we need to make a cave." Gary said, suddenly sounding arrogant and bossy again. The pair walked around the mountain to the stable side. Gary called out his Arcanine and watched as the Pokemon burned a cave into the snowy wall of the mountain. The two went inside and called out a few of their other pokemon. They all stacked snow to close the wall of the cave. Soon the gang was trapped inside a small 8ft by 8ft cave. It was actually pretty roomy. Ash had Charmander out so that they could use his tail as a source of heat and light.

Ash quickly got settled in a corner of the cave. He wrapped his arms around his legs. He was just so cold. The blood on his hands had frozen, otherwise he might've been worried about it. Gary sat on the complete opposite side of the room. There were about a million questions the black haired teen had for his rival, but he kept them to himself. He'd figured Gary didn't want to answer any of them. So he made small talk.

"Uh. How's the weather?" He joked. Gary glared at him, clearly cold in his corner of the room as well. They were both shivering a lot. A few moments passed, and the room seemed to be heating up. Ash was finally about to catch his breath. That's when the icy wind blew a hole threw their outer cave wall. Ash was nearest the whole, so he quickly sat with his back against it.

"S-shit." He stuttered, even colder if possible. There was now icy cold wind blowing straight up against his back. He gritted his teeth in aggravation. Gary was watching him from the other side of the room. Ash really looked cold and tired and yet, he was still blocking the wall for everyone else in the room.

"Move over." Gary said. Ash looked confused.

"No." He replied. He'd wanted Gary to warm up for some inexplicable reason. Gary crawled to sit right next to his rival.

"I said move over." He ordered.

"W-why?" Ash asked. He could feel his whole body going numb and he knew it wasn't good. But he didn't want his Charmander or Pikachu or Gary to get cold. Wait, did he just say his Gary? Weird. The black haired teen shook his head to rid himself of the thought.

"At least let's split the cold in half." Gary suggested, not wanting Ash to take such a harsh beating for their safety.

"Fine." The teen said, gritting his teeth in defeat. They scooted real close to each other so that they each covered half the hole in the wall.

"W-what now?" The dark haired teen asked. He was cold and tired and hungry as hell.

"We wait out the night." Gary replied. The pair drifted in and out of sleep. Somewhere along the way, Ash leaned his head on Gary's shoulder.

"Sorry." He muttered, and lifted his head back up.

"It's fine." Gary said, wrapping an arm around Ash.

"We'll both be warmer if we touch." He muttered, half asleep. Apparently his guard was down since he was so drowsy and cold. At least that's what he told himself. Soon, they were hugging and leaning on each other. Around the middle of the night, another hole blew in through the wall. Gary scooted over to cover that one up, and Ash had to take over the old hole alone.

"Ow." He randomly muttered. Since his body he'd been so frozen, he'd had no real opportunity to heal. Ash hadn't noticed earlier, but at some point in the night, his hands had started to bleed again. He looked around. His two Pokémon were sleeping, but Gary was barely awake and watching him.

"Need some help?" He whispered. Ash looked at him and shook his head. What could a little blood loss really do? No harm, right? Gary sighed and called out Arcanine. He told the Pokémon to temporarily cover his hole in the wall. (There was not enough other snow in the cave to fill in the holes, and it was too cold to leave the cave) The chestnut haired teen crawled over to ash. He took off his gloves and put them on the floor. Ash rose his eyebrows questioningly.

"Why?" He asked.

"Loss of blood could kill you." Gary muttered. The medic in him was shining through. He took Ash's hands in his and examined them. There were too many cuts to count. So he took his scarf and tied it tightly around one of his rival's hand's. Then he reached forward and took off Ash's scarf. As he was doing so, he got a little sidetracked. Ash was looking right at him. Gary froze, he didn't know what the other wanted him to do.

"What?" He asked, confused and half asleep. Ash hesitated, then leaned up and gently brushed his lips against Gary's. The chestnut haired teen was stunned. Though he was only still for a few more seconds. Then he kissed back softly, almost experimentally. After a few more seconds, they pulled away from each other. There was no other conversation. Gary just continued to fix the other teen's hands. After that, they both went back to their posts, and Gary called back Arcanine. Before they knew it, It was morning. The blizzard outside had stopped, and they broke down the wall. They walked out onto the path and looked around.

"C'mon, we know which way to go." He said pretty bossily. Ash sighed, Gary was back to his normal self. He was pretending that nothing had changed between them. Ash couldn't say he was surprised. Gary glanced back at Ash, doing a once over of his companion.

"You look beat." He observed.

"Ya think?" Ash rertorted, aggravated with himself for kissing Gary in the first place. He glared at the floor and followed the other out of the snowy terrain. They were soon on a dirt path in a warm forest, heading for the nearest place to warm up. The hot headed teen suddenly stopped walking and crossed his arms. Gary noticed after a few seconds and stopped as well.

"What?" He asked, sighing exasperatedly.

"If you didn't want anything to change, you didn't have to kiss me back." Ash stated bravely. It was obvious that he was nervous, for his right eyebrow was twitching slightly. And you could see the wariness in his eyes.

"Just drop it Ash." Gary snarled, then turned around to continue walking. Ash sighed and began to follow the other. There was more awkward silence as they treaded the forest. But after some time, the dark haired teen couldn't stand it any longer.

"I know you hate me." He blurted out. Gary simply scoffed.

"Seriously, you've always hated me. Since day fucking one. You've always wanted me out of the way. I'm nothing to you so I don't even know why you wasted your precious time saving me!" Ash ranted, getting more frustrated with each word. It just drove him crazy that his rival could be so calm about this. Gary spun on his heel to face Ash.

"Shut up!" He yelled. "Just shut up! You don't know what I think, you don't know how I feel. So stop acting like you do." The teen finished, finally getting riled.

"Well maybe I'd know if you'd tell me!" Ash retorted, a challenging glint in his eyes. Gary sighed and started walking again, faster.

"No, we're not done!" Ash yelled. He violently yanked Gary around to face him again. The chestnut haired teen got pissed and pushed Ash backwards.

"Get the fuck off me!" He yelled, looking oddly emotional. Then Gary just ran off. Ash didn't bother to chase him. Instead he leisurely walked to the nearest town. The dark-haired teen made it to the area, then walked into the nearest Pokémon Center. He approached the nurse behind the desk.

"Hello, has anyone by the name of Gary Oak checked in lately? Or even stopped by?" Ash asked politely. The nurse seemed to be deep in thought for a moment.

"A boy with reddish brown hair and a blue shirt?" She sked. Ash nodded.

"As a matter of fact he did." Joy confirmed.

"Well do you know where he went? Did he say?" The teen questioned. Nurse Joy nodded.

"Yes, he's in one of our rooms, said he needed to thaw out." She replied, laughing slightly.

"What's his room number?" Ash relentlessly questioned.

"Um I'm not sure I should tell you that." She responded quietly.

"I'm his friend, I swear." Ash paused and reached for his wallet. He thumbed through the pictures of his family to find one of Gary. He held it up for the nurse to see.

"I have his picture right here, see? I know him." Ash concluded. The nurse nodded.

"Room 7."

"Thanks!" Ash said, then turned around to approach the room. However, Gary was already standing in the middle of the hallway, staring at Ash with an odd expression.

"There you are. Now, were not done with our-" Ash started but he was rudely interrupted by Gary.

"You have my picture in your wallet?" The chestnut haired teen asked in an amazed, almost laughable voice. The dark haired teen turned bright red.

"Well uh yeah.. It's just that- Um." He hesitated with his answer.

"I don't know I just do." He concluded, flustered and highly embarrassed. Gary shook his head, smiling awkwardly.

"Fuck you." He whispered. Ash looked hurt.

"What?" He asked.

"I said, fuck you." Gary whispered, then looked Ash straight in the eye. Ash couldn't stand the intensity of the stare. As soon as he looked away, Gary strutted right up to him. He forced Ash to look directly in his eyes. Then Gary leaned in and carefully, slowly, brushed his lips against Ash's. He pulled away and whispered

"I could never hate you." Ash's gasp of shock was audible.

"But you always..Idunno..act like it." He replied, confused. Gary sighed and looked down.

"I could never have you. First there was the fact that you were my rival. My grandfather kept trying to get me to like you, so I rebelled. Then, there was the fact that you always seemed to like Misty. I don't know, guess it was stupid." Gary replied calmly.

"Yeah it was." Ash agreed. Gary laughed

"Hey your not supposed to agree with me!" He joked. Ash snickered.

"Oh relax, I was just messing around." He stated. They both looked at each other.

"Come on." Gary finally uttered. He grabbed Ash's hand and began to lead him down the hall. "Let's thaw out together."

* * *

**A/N:** **Ahem. Little cuties aren't they? Idk man I just wrote another stereotypical one-shot, but doesn't everyone? **

**Hope you enjoyed it regardless :D **

**Review?**


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